To block websites on Android, install a third-party app like BlockSite or use Mozilla Firefox as your browser and get a website blocking add-on. Switching to a custom DNS server also blocks a multitude of time-wasting and inappropriate websites at once for all Android browsers.
Want to block a specific website so you don’t get distracted at work? Or do you want to restrict access to inappropriate websites? You can block websites on Android either with or without a dedicated app, and we’ll show you how to do both.
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Block websites on Android with a third-party app
An easy way to block a website on your Android phone is to use a free website blocking app. One such app is BlockSite (free but ad-supported) that allows you to restrict access to your specified websites at the specified schedule on your web browsers.
Once you have blocked a website with this app, that website will no longer be accessible in any of your web browsers. Later you can unblock a website if you want.
To use this method, download and install the free BlockSite app on your phone. Then launch the app, go through the splash screens and give the app all the necessary permissions.
When you reach the main screen of the app, select “Blocklist” followed by the “+” (plus) button.
At the top of the Add Sites/Apps screen, tap the text box and enter the URL (web link) to the site you want to block. For example blocking wikipedia.org Type wikipedia.org in the text box, and then select the site from the list. You can add multiple websites here to block them on your phone.
After specifying the websites, tap Done in the top-right corner of the app.
At the prompt, choose Done.
You’ve successfully specified the websites you want to block, but your websites aren’t blocked yet. This is because you need to create a timetable for when the lockdown will come into effect.
To do this, tap on “Schedule” on the main screen of the app.
Select the days and times you want your specified websites to remain blocked. To block them indefinitely, select the All week and All day options.
Then, next to “Select All,” turn on the option.
And that’s all there is to it. Your specified websites are now inaccessible in your phone’s web browsers. If you try to access one of these pages, you’ll see a message from BlockSite instead of the actual page content.
Block any website on Android without an app
If you don’t want to use a third-party app to block websites on your Android phone, you can either restrict website access in Mozilla Firefox or blanket ban adult websites with custom DNS servers.
Use an add-on in Mozilla Firefox
If you use Firefox as your primary web browser, a free add-on restricts access to certain websites in your browser. Note that using this method will only block your websites in Firefox; Your other web browsers will still be able to access your blocked websites.
Note: We only cover Firefox because other popular browsers either don’t support add-ons and extensions for Android, or in the case of Samsung Internet only support ad blocking. If you prefer to use a browser other than Firefox, try a custom DNS server.
To use this method, launch Firefox on your phone. Then tap on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Add-ons”.
On the Add-ons page, tap the + (plus) option next to the LeechBlock NG add-on.
In the lower-right corner of the opened Command Prompt, tap Add.
When the add-on is installed, select “Okay, Got It”.
Access Firefox’s “Add-ons” page by tapping the three dots in the top-right corner of the browser and selecting “Add-ons”.
Then tap on “LeechBlock NG”.
Select settings.”
Tap the large text box and enter the website URLs you want to block. Specify the schedule for when these sites should remain blocked.
Then scroll down the page and tap “Save options and close”.
And that’s it.
From now on, when you try to access a restricted website, Firefox won’t load the website for you.
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Use custom DNS servers to block adult websites
If you want to blanket ban adult websites, pirated media, and malware on your Android phone, use OpenDNS’s free FamilyShield DNS servers. These servers ensure that your phone does not load these types of websites on your local network.
Note: This method only works if your Android phone uses a Wi-Fi connection. This is because Android doesn’t allow you to specify custom DNS servers when using cellular data.
First, launch the Settings app on your Android phone. The exact steps to perform the following process vary by phone model.
In Settings, navigate to Connections > Wi-Fi.
Tap the gear icon next to the WiFi network you’re connected to.
Note: You must specify these DNS servers for each Wi-Fi network you use. Android doesn’t automatically apply these servers to all your wireless networks.
On the screen that opens, tap “Show More”. Then select the “IP Settings” option and select “Static”.
In the DNS 1 field, enter the following:
208.67.222.123
Tap the DNS 2 field and enter the following.
208.67.220.123
Tap “Save” at the bottom to save your changes.
Your custom DNS servers are now blocking access to adult websites and other unsafe content on your Android phone.
While you’re at it, you might want to learn how to block or restrict apps and calls on your Android device to increase your productivity. It’s easy to do both on your phone.
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